Blips: Two Under The Radar Bands

These United States

MySpace / Website

Typically, when you think of bands hailing from our nation’s capital, it’s punk and hardcore acts that immediately come to mind and not bawdy roots-rocks bands. These United States are looking to change all of that. The band filters wordy Highway 61-era Bob Dylan through the psychedelic country-rock swaths of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage and Ryan Adams work with The Cardinals.

I may be a little late to the party on these guys, with their most recent album Crimes coming out in the fall of last year, but it’s one that has been in constant rotation on my iPod all summer long. The album is chock full of rowdy barroom rock that features everything from rollicking pedal steel work to funky clavinet fills. These United States will release their third full length – Everything Touches Everything on September 1, and are currently in the midst of a lengthy cross-country run that is sure to stop in a town near you.